Healthy shortbread cookies are great for the holidays! With maple, coconut flour, & vanilla, easy vegan iced shortbread cookies are the best!
Every year, amongst all the craziness, my husband and I find time to bake and put together cookie boxes for our family and closest friends. Every year, we change it up just a little with new cookie recipes.
We already gave out our cookie boxes this year, but these healthy shortbread cookies will definitely make it into next year’s cookie box! They’re easy enough to make in big batches, and cute enough to hand out as gifts.
Iced with vanilla glaze, these holiday vanilla shortbread cookies will be a hit this year with all your friends and family!
What’s the difference between a sugar cookie and a shortbread cookie?
To put it simply, sugar cookies have eggs in them, while shortbread doesn’t. Shortbread also usually contains more butter than sugar cookies, and have a firmer texture. Shortbread cookies also need to be baked at a lower temperature than sugar cookies.
My healthy shortbread cookies don’t contain any butter at all, and only require 2 tablespoons of melted coconut oil. So I guess technically they aren’t shortbread, but they are very similar in texture and much healthier than the traditional versions!
Should you chill shortbread before baking?
Usually, shortbread dough does need to be chilled so it can be rolled more easily. This holiday shortbread recipe doesn’t need to be chilled in order to be rolled out. The cookies still hold their shape and are easy to cut out and transfer to your baking sheet without being chilled.
What sugar is best for shortbread?
Traditionally, shortbread is made with white, refined sugar or powdered sugar to add fluffiness. However, this recipe is much healthier than the traditional versions, and uses 100% pure maple syrup instead of the white sugar.
Do shortbread cookies harden when cooling?
Yes they do! Once you take them out of the oven, they do feel a little bit soft. However, as they cool, they firm up and become a nice, shortbread texture.
How do you keep shortbread cookies fresh?
After you glaze the shortbread cookies, allow them to sit in the open air so that the icing can harden. After a couple of hours, the iced shortbread cookies will be ready to store in an airtight container for up to 3 days. No need to refridgerate!
Healthy Vanilla Shortbread Cookies
Classic shortbread cookies are made with flour, sugar, and butter. In order to make them healthier, you need to change those ingredients.
These healthy shortbread cookies are made with whole wheat pastry flour, coconut flour, pure maple syrup, vanilla, coconut oil, and a tiny bit of salt.
The whole wheat pastry flour adds fiber, while the coconut flour is low carb and helps with the texture of the cookies. The maple syrup and coconut oil both are natural ingredients that help to make this cookie as healthy and delicious as possible.
Although I’ve tried to make a “healthy” cookie glaze, it’s definitely more difficult than I anticipated. For these cookies, the glaze is made with primarily powdered sugar, which isn’t the healthiest ingredient. But, it does make a beautiful glaze on top of healthy cookies.
For that reason, the glaze is optional, but I still recommend it! It’s the holidays, afterall!
Total nutritional content per glazed cookie is:
- Calories: 171 calories (or 130 calories without the glaze)
- Protein: 2 grams
- Sodium: 57 mg
- Carbohydrates: 34 grams (or 23 grams without the glaze)
- Fiber: 3 grams
Budget Friendly
This recipe totals about $3.21 for the whole batch, or around $.28 per cookie. The most expensive part of this recipe is the pure maple syrup, which I buy at Costco for around $12.
Another way to keep the cost of this recipe down is to buy whole wheat pastry flour and coconut flour from the bulk bins instead of buying them prepackaged. I’ve found they are much less expensive that way, and are still very high quality.
After I buy my flours in bulk, I store them in these really nice, airtight pantry containers from Amazon (affiliate link):
Other cookies you might love:
Other holiday baked goods:
Tried this recipe? Please leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the comments below! I would really appreciate your feedback!
Recipe
Healthy Vanilla Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup coconut flour
- 1 ⅛ cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 2 tbsp coconut oil melted
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
Glaze (optional):
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°.
- In a medium bowl, stir all ingredients until well combined. Try not to overmix.
- Flour your surface and rolling pin. Roll out the dough about ½ inch thick. Cut out cookies with your favorite cookie cutters, and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake cookies for 9-10 minutes. They won't really look any different, maybe slightly brown on the edges, so just trust the timing. Allow to cool before glazing.
- While the cookies are cooling, make the glaze. Combine 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, and 1 tablespoon water. Whisk with a fork until there are no lumps.
- Dip the tops of cookies into the glaze, letting the excess drip off. Transfer to a wire rack and decorate as desired while the glaze is still soft.
- Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
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These healthy shortbread cookies are easy enough for last minute baking, fun to glaze and decorate, and they taste good, too!
What are your favorite holiday cookies? Happy holidays!
xoxo Megan
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